


I'm Coming Home, Tell The World (I'm Coming Home)

by Feliadox



Category: Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Aaarrrgghh is a Soft Cinnamon Roll who Can Kill You, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blinky is Jim's Dad and nothing can change my mind, Brothers, Claire's Twin Terror Brothers foreshadowing, Claire's a Magical Girl, Draal (Trollhunters) Lives, Draal Lives, Draal your baby brother is a Moron, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt Jim, Hurt/Comfort, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Jim "This Is Fine" Lake Jr., Jim no, Jim plz, Merlin is a Tired Old Man(tm), Serious Injuries, Sporadic Updates, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Toby the Jim Whisperer, revival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22762189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feliadox/pseuds/Feliadox
Summary: Merlin has a debt to pay.Blinky has to figure out how to herd the remaining trolls while fighting the increasing urge to beat them over the heads with his stick. His respect for Vendal grows more and more every day.Jim has to actually learn to let himself heal from his injures, because he isn't fine despite what he tells himself.And Draal... has to figure out just how exactly to catch up with everyone. Geez, what happened while he was stone?!
Relationships: Aaarrrgghh & Jim Lake Jr. (Tales of Arcadia), Aaarrrgghh & Toby Domzalski, Blinky & Jim Lake Jr. (Tales of Arcadia), Claire Nuñez & NotEnrique, Draal & Jim Lake Jr. (Tales of Arcadia), Jim Lake Jr. & Nomura (Tales of Arcadia), Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez, Toby Domzalski & Jim Lake Jr.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 74





	1. Welcome Back, Draal

He surfaced as if he were drowning, coughing and spluttering as his lungs became active again.

Dizzy, disoriented, gasping on the cold, damp stone floor, the first thing he became aware of… was a green glow.

The second was the old man watching him, looking bone weary and older than even Vendal could. And in his hand…

_Was the Staff of Avalon..?!_

"W- _who_..?" Was all he managed through his coughing. 

A smile touched the old man's face, though didn't reach his tired eyes. "I go by many names, son of Kanjigar the Courageous. But you may call me Merlin."

Merlin… 

_Merlin._

The elder, Merlin, huffed at the dazed, incredulous expression he received and simply turned. "Come now, Draal. I have a debt to even begin to pay." 

Merlin paused, his voice quieter, "And you… have a Trollhunter to help."

_Jim?!_

"What happened? The Trollhunter-" Draal scrambled to his unsteady feet, chasing after the wizard.

"The war is over. Gunmar and Angor Rot are gone," Merlin informed promptly, not looking up at the troll as he kept his pace. "And as for the Trollhunter…" He hesitated.

Draal felt his heart _drop._

"Is… Is he…?" 

"He's alive…. But he is badly injured." Merlin closed his eyes, stopping and forcing Draal to pause as well lest he run into him.

Weary eyes finally looked up to meet the blue warrior's. "And I fear, with the journey ahead of him, he will not survive." 

_Not without all the help he can get._


	2. Where's Merlin?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim is a Self-Sacrificing Moron who Needs to Take Care of Himself.

They had been traveling for days…

Weeks..?

He didn't.. He didn't quite know anymore…

It was all starting to run together, one harrowing day to the next. 

Leaning more on his "walking stick" (crutch, it was a crutch and he knew it. Claire wasn't subtle with her growing concern), Jim slowed to wearily observe their new surroundings.

The mountainous region they were using to travel (though they kept closer to human settlements than anyone was honestly comfortable with, but was necessary for both Claire and Merlin… and Jim, too, though not as much so) was lush, vivid with life in a way the boy hadn't ever seen in his former normal suburb life. 

Trees that stretched and stretched and _stretched_ and seemed to brush the unpolluted sky itself. Flowers in almost every color, _creatures_ he had only formerly believed myth. Creatures he had never even _heard_ of before, big and small. Some friendly, and others… not…

Cave systems that never seemed to end, deep and dark, forever to explore that he could never possibly have time for. 

Creeks and streams with the freshest water he had ever tasted. 

Meadows with the healthiest grass he had ever seen, filled with _hundreds_ of _fireflies._

The stars above. The _stars.._

He had _never,_ in all sixteen years of his life, had seen such a clear sky, the stars shining brighter than he had _ever_ seen them.

At any other point, he would have been _ecstatic_ , probably racing off to explore with Toby, and Claire, and Aaarrrgghh, and…

...and Draal…

Agony, raw and jagged, sliced through his chest at the reminder. 

And not… entirely just emotionally. 

Sucking in a controlled breath, refusing to let his expression twist into one of pain as it so often seemed to want to do these days, Jim cradled his chest with his free arm.

After the final battle, Jim had _known_ he was injured…. But not even he had truly known the full extent of it until three days later, after finally managing to will the Eclipse armor back into the amulet.

Of which was embedded over where his heart is (would be?), but that's something he makes an effort not to think too hard on.

All he vaguely remembered from that evening both Blinky and Claire had forced him to rest under the threat of Nomura forcing him to do so, was the soft creek that ran in front of the cave murmuring, the waning moon softly setting as the dawn slowly broke out across a sky he couldn't see so far within the safety of the cave but could definitely feel with some sense he had never had before his transformation, everyone finally settled down and resting for the day….

_A flash of red._

_**Pain** painpainPAIN-_

_OhpleasepleaseithurtsstOPITHURTS-_

His jaw clenched as his memories faded into a white haze of agony from that point forward. He can't remember if he screamed. Can't remember if anyone had seen. (At least, he can be pretty sure Claire or Blinky hadn't seen… they were motherhens, the both of them, as they had so often proven.)

He barely remembers managing to pull himself into some sort of coherency and attempting to wrap the deep, _festering_ wounds and burns he hadn't even known about with the shreds of an extra towel. His ribs had been sore, but at that moment they were simply a mass of fiery _agony._

Jim could not deny the fact he had probably wept in pain, finding his cheeks damp when he had come into consciousness again.

They had no doctor, no fully trained healer. His mother was back in Arcadia, and Vendal…

...Besides there was no doctor that could treat the… the _abomination_ , he had become. A mix mash of two entirely different species?

No.

There was no one who could help him now.

So with that, Jim forced himself to suck it up and reactivate his armor before anyone could come to wake him to begin their long journey once again.

Once everyone was up and ready to go, he volunteered to scout ahead before anyone else could grab the chance, to which Blinky hesitantly agreed to... under the circumstance that the young warrior took it easy and didn't strain himself too much.

Which Jim didn't plan to do, even as he took a small detour. With an extremely guilty conscious, he swiped a first aid kit (with extra bandages), and some clothes from a small store he had run into along the way. 

He could have asked Claire…

But…

But she would only worry more, and _Blinky_ would worry more and he already had _enough_ to worry about with being the new leader, and Nomura would go all quiet, and…

No. There was no need to worry them. They were already worried enough… there was no need to add more to that.

...right?

...Right.

The others had been ecstatic once he eventually revealed to them he could finally will the armor away, though Claire was somewhat suspicious of just how he acquired the clothing. 

It was a constant struggle to not shrivel up into a ball of agony every time someone bumped into him (or scream when someone went to go give him a friendly slap on the back or a hug or really anything these days).

He didn't even last an hour before he returned to the back of the group, under the pretense of simply resuming his watch as Blinky led them forward.

Not that he wasn't doing that too… but at least this also came with extra space and less chances of feeling like he was going to hurl from the increasing amount of pain every bump and nudge, both intentional and not, he got.

Blinking out of his thoughts, Jim squinted as he scanned over the crowd in front of him. 

_….someone was missing._

A sinking feeling dropped in his gut, he took another head count just to be sure.

The sinking feeling suddenly turned into some kind of mix between resignation and dread.

"Where's Merlin?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \------
> 
> Holy mother of cHAOS- 
> 
> UM
> 
> HELLO
> 
> I did _not_ expect such a reaction already 
> 
> I'm so SO sorry for the short intro chapter... hope this one's more to your tastes in length? :")
> 
> I cannot promise fast or long updates, as easily tired and burnt out I can get, BUT.
> 
> I'm not going to abandon my stories. I WILL get back to them... eventually. 
> 
> So, um.. just a heads up! :")
> 
> Thanks for such an awesome welcome you guys!
> 
> \- Feliadox


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